Quotations

Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toenails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone and not alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own. All that matters about poetry is the enjoyment of it however tragic it may be. All that matters is the eternal movement behind it — the great undercurrent of human grief, folly, pretension, exaltation and ignorance — however unlofty the intention of the poem.

I gave up on being Nice. I started putting more value on other qualities instead: passion, bravery, intelligence, practicality, humour, patience, fairness, sensitivity. Those last three might seem like they are covered y “nice,” but make no mistake, they are not. […] I don’t put a lot of stock in nice. I’d prefer to be around people who have any of the above qualities over “niceness,” and I’d prefer it if that applied to me, too. I’m also okay if the most accurate description of me is nervous, and a little salty. But at least I know what I want to strive for.

Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.

People shouldn’t have to appear always, you know, stable and content, because people aren’t always stable and content. And it makes it harder…because we don’t have the freedom to express all of these darker sides of our emotions. Because we’re supposed to keep everything very, you know, friendly and polite and appropriate all the time. And I think that every emotion is appropriate whenever it arises.

I have this theory about words. There’s a thousand ways to say “Pass the salt.” It could mean, “Can I have some salt?” Or it could mean, “I love you.” It could mean, “I’m very annoyed with you.” Really, the list could go on and on. Words are little bombs, and they have a lot of energy inside of them.